Big 12 Baseball Preview

Tomorrow starts the Big 12 Baseball Tournament at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. I am excited to watch and work a few of the games this year. The Big 12 says bye to Texas A&M and Missouri will leave the Big 12 and join the SEC (Southeastern Conference.) The Big 12 welcomes West Virginia and Texas Christian. 
The Big 12 Tournament is double elimination that starts Wednesday, May 23-Sunday, May 27. 
Tuesday starts out strong with four games. The first game starting at 9am which also happens to be Bedlam.  The fourth seed Sooners of Oklahoma face in state rival fifth seed Oklahoma State Cowboys. 
The 12:30pm game is top seeded Baylor against the Kansas State Wildcats. KSU is ranked eighth coming into tournament play. This is probably my favorite game tomorrow. I don't know why but I have jumped a little bit on the Baylor bandwagon. Anytime I watch Baylor play I would rather have them win over their opponent except SEC teams. (I love the SEC!)
The afternoon game starts at 4pm and will be second seed Texas A&M Aggies versus seventh seed Kansas Jayhawks. I wonder if we will see a Nick Collison sighting since this is his alma mater. That would be amazing, because he is my favorite NBA player. Not because he plays for the Thunder because I don't really care about that. (Shocking, right? Since I live in Oklahoma.) He is my favorite player because he is from Iowa. Wish he would have went to State, but that's for a different day. 
The last game of the night is Texas, third seed, against Missouri, sixth seed. I don't really care who wins this game. I really don't like either team to be completely honest. 
I will be blogging more about the Big 12 Tourney throughout the week. I am excited to see the field and watch a few games. My parents are in town as well, so hopefully they will want to see some games. 
Looking Ahead to the Future
The Big 12 will also be close to my heart because I am alum of a Big 12 school-Iowa State. Before I got there, the athletic director canned baseball. On the upside, Big 12 has 2 new schools joining the conference next year: TCU Horned Frogs and West Virginia Mountaineers. Yes, I think the Big 12 should have asked me my opinion about WVU because it makes no sense. I liked the conference structure in the past based on geographic location. 
TCU will be a great addition as the Horned Frogs have won 6 *straight* conference regular season titles. TCU has also appeared in the CWS for 8 consecutive seasons. They have a Top 10 recruiting class according to Baseball America, and have ranked in the publication three out of the five years. 
WVU has swung the bat well in the past. Since 2003, WVU's team batting average is at least .300. Since 2008, WVU has six drafts picks and 6 players sign free agent contracts. 
Both teams will be something different to Big 12, and I am ready to see both teams do in all sports. 
To My Runners
Something really exciting that I don't think they (Big 12 Conference & All Sports Association) has done before is a 5k race prior to Saturday's game. Everyone who races in the 5K will also get a FREE ticket Saturday's game. If my parents weren't here and I wasn't working than I would probably run. 
I love this idea as well. I think it's a great way to attract more people to the games. I'm not sure what the other conferences do, but they should take notes. Big 12 sponsors are pretty amazing, and the Big 12 does great to recognize all the sponsors. No matter how much the package. Sorry, that's my sports marketing/sponsorship side showing. 
I swear after you work in sports, and if you still do you look at games so different than fans. My husband and I do this all the time with every game we go to. We see what they do and take notes, and try to bring it back and apply to our teams. Right now, I am not in sports so I just keep a journal of all the cool and fun things I see at a stadiums. 
On a more personal note, I was able to print the 2012 Big 12 Baseball media notes. I wish I could find the other conferences because it is full of fun information. To most not fun, but me I LOVE!!! I miss those days of researching information for media notes and story ideas for newspapers. I know I will get my chance again soon, but I love reading them and seeing them. Only a sports nerd will ever say this!
Questions
Who do you think will win the Big 12 Tourney?
What teams do you think will represent the Big 12 in the College World Series?
Until next time, 
Jessa